Eileen Carr

Contact Information

Eileen Carr

Director, ArtsLIVE

Staff

Profile

Eileen Carr has managed ArtsLIVE for the University of Dayton since 2005. Over that period, Carr has presented more than 50 visiting artists or ensembles - ranging from adventurous contemporary musicians such as So Percussion, Missy Mazzoli, Phyllis Chen, and Michael Mizrahi, to world music giants including Simon Shaheen, Vieux Farke Touré, and Huun Huur Tu.

Carr has over 25 years of experience in arts administration. Although her most recent work has been in managing the performing arts, her education and original work was in the visual arts. She has an MA in art history from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she was a Pogue Fellow. While studying at Michigan State University, she was awarded a curatorial internship at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, which led to many years of museum work. Carr served as the Curator of Education for the Dayton Art Institute in the 1990s, and previously worked in museum marketing and fundraising. She has also worked as an independent curator, as well as an interim curator for the Dayton Art Institute, where she organized a major exhibition of modern American prints.

Carr has seven years of teaching experience in arts administration and an introduction to visual arts, both at the University of Dayton and, for a shorter period, at Wright State University. She has served on the boards of Rhythm in Shoes and the Dayton Visual Arts Center, where she also served a term as board president; she currently serves on the board of The Muse Machine.

Staff Perspective

"What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit."- John Updike

The Arts Series is an important legacy at the University of Dayton. Begun in 1961 to enhance the lives of campus and community, it is one of the few collegiate programs that reaches back this far. It still faces many of the same challenges - and offers those who take advantage of it some of the same enduring joys.

A great education - like a great life - is one speckled with both purpose and serendipity. Some of the best moments in life are those bits of inspiration that sneak in when we least expect it: and so I'm always urging students, friends and colleagues to take a chance on something they’re not familiar with in the arts. Invest an hour of your valuable time. Take a risk with music outside of your comfort zone. And open yourself to the gift of space and revelation that the best art offers us.